Church ArmyAustralia

Uncommon Grounds: Cheap Coffee - Priceless Witness

When Church Army officer John Stanley arranged in 2001 for the purchase of an old store front on Franklin Avenue in Aliquippa, he expected he and other volunteers would have a working coffee shop ministry in six months, tops.

Then part of the building literally fell off.

Nearly four years of volunteer labor followed, but the results are impressive. Now, a fully functional café and coffee shop stands in what used to just be another run-down building.

Of course, Uncommon Grounds isn’t really about just serving a good latte or even paying its bills (something Stanley never expects it to be able to do). It aspires to help a whole community heal and lead individuals to Jesus. “We’re here to change Aliquippa,” said Stanley. Sometimes that means connecting someone down on their luck with the proper social services, or just listening. In other moments, there may be opportunities for evangelism and guiding people to local churches.

Surf Church New Global Training Base

In major step forward for Maroubra Surfers Church (MSC), the innovative mission is becoming the latest base for the worldwide Church Army Global GAP year program.

MSC are now ready to take Church Army ministry students from the programs in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

This development has been made possible thanks to the generous provision of accommodation by a supporter from the wider Christian community in the Eastern Suburbs.

In the cover feature in the current print edition of Southern Cross, the Rev Steve Bligh from MSC explains they have an urgent need for female Christian leadership.

Lack of accommodation in Maroubra had made it difficult to recruit an appropriate leader.

Now Steve believes that the GAP Year program may provide the female leadership he has been praying for.

“Over the past nine months I have to say ‘no’ to Church Army Gap Year students from England and other parts of Australia,” he says. “With the provision of ministry training accommodation we will be able to support two students at a time.”

“Not only will the students help out with the mission here at Maroubra,” says Steve, the program will be a boost to MSC’s ‘ministry dynamic’.

“It will keep us in the training momentum - coaching, mentoring, discipling – which is key to raising up the next generation of leaders here.”

The accommodation is also likely to see the Surfers Church model replicated around Australia.

Steve has already accepted a request from an evangelical Anglican Church on the North Coast of NSW to send a minister to Maroubra to work alongside Steve.

“They hope to learn from me and take the model back to the north coast.”